Party of Smallholders and Rural People , later renamed as the Small Farmers Party (Pienviljelijäin puolue), was a political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

. The party was founded in Seinäjoki

Seinäjoki

Seinäjoki is a city located in Southern Ostrobothnia, Finland. Seinäjoki originated around the Östermyra bruk iron and gunpowder factories founded in 1798. Seinäjoki became a municipality in 1868, market town in 1931 and town in 1960...

 on December 20, 1936, through the unification of Smallholders' Party of Finland (SPP), People's Party

People's Party (Finland, 1932)

The People's Party was a political party in Finland. It had a populist and peasant-oriented profile. The party was founded in Ylivieska on August 21, 1932 and it was mainly active in Kalajokilaakso region. Yrjö Hautala was the chairman of the party, and Fredrik Rautio the vice chairman...

 and Central League of Recession Committees. Most members of the new party came from the SPP and the organization was mainly built on the basis of the SPP. Eino Yliruusi became chairman of the new party.

The PMP had mainly a populist

Populism

Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...

 profile. However, because of the radical rhetoric of Yliruusi and the party's negative attitude to fascism and war, it was also seen as leftist. Some sections and members of the PMP had links to the underground Communist Party of Finland

Communist Party of Finland

The Communist Party of Finland was a communist political party in Finland. The SKP was a section of Comintern and illegal in Finland until 1944.SKP did not participate in any elections with its own name. Instead, front organisations were used...

, who favoured cooperation with PMP as part of its popular front

Popular front

A popular front is a broad coalition of different political groupings, often made up of leftists and centrists. Being very broad, they can sometimes include centrist and liberal forces as well as socialist and communist groups...

 policy. The PMP leadership did however deny all forms of linkages with the communists.

The party published Suomen Pienviljelijä and Pohjanmaan Sana.

During the Winter War

Winter War

The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...

, the PMP criticized the pro-German policies of the government. As a result, the party organ Suomen Pienviljelijä was closed down in 1939. Yliruusi attempted to start a new publication, Suomen Sanomia, but it was rapidly closed down by the authorities. In 1941 both of the PMP MPs left the party and joined the Agrarian League

Centre Party (Finland)

The Centre Party is a centrist and Nordic agrarian political party in Finland. It is one of the four largest political parties in the country, along with the Social Democratic Party , the National Coalition Party and the True Finns , and currently has 35 seats in the Finnish Parliament...

. The party participated in elections until 1954 but it never returned to the parliament.

b>Parliamentary elections Year MPs Votes 1939 Finnish parliamentary election, 1939 Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 1 and 2 July 1939.-Background:The leading issues of the 1939 Finnish parliamentary election, held on 1 and 2 July, were the distribution of the growing prosperity's benefits, the prospects for the centre-left coalition government's continuation, the... 2 27 783 2.14% 1945 Finnish parliamentary election, 1945 Eduskunta election in 1945 was held from March 17 to 18, 1945. In Finland, the communists could for the first time since 1929 freely present their candidates. Through the Finnish People's Democratic League, they were able to win over a large section of Social Democratic voters. The Patriotic... -- 20 061 1.18% 1948 Finnish parliamentary election, 1948 Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 1 and 2 July 1948.-Background:The political atmosphere during the July 1948 Finnish parliamentary elections was heated. Many Finns across the party lines believed that the Communists and People's Democrats had pursued their goal of making Finland a... -- 5 378 0.29% 1951 Finnish parliamentary election, 1951 Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 1 and 2 July 1951.-Background:Urho Kekkonen had served as Prime Minister since March 1950, after losing the February 1950 presidential election clearly to President J.K... -- 4 964 0.27% 1954 Finnish parliamentary election, 1954 Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 7 and 8 March 1954.-Background:In June 1953, Prime Minister Kekkonen had presented a simultaneous deflationary program, which tried to lower wages, prices and public expenditures to the level of the export industry's profitability... -- 1 040 0.05%

Presidenti>l elections Year Electors Votes 1950 Finnish presidential election, 1950 Two-stage presidential elections were held in Finland in 1950, the first time the public had been involved in a presidential election since 1937 as three non-public elections had taken place in 1940, 1943 and 1946. On 16 and 17 January the public elected presidential electors to an electoral... -- 689 0.04%